Use the sliders to select your target price range and bike frame sizes. Then click on "Search" and QBike will find you a selection of road bikes from the top online bike shops, from eBay, and from an assortment of classifieds sites.

Or, you can try some of the handy links below to quickly find your next road bike by price range or by selecting from the top bike manufacturers.

There are two main considerations in choosing a road bike:
frame material and componentry. The frame material is a big contributing
factor to ride quality as well as to cost. Similarly, you will often find
significant price differences on otherwise equal road bikes based on the
choice of components.

Frame Materials

Bikes are generally made of one
(or sometimes a combination) of these materials:

steel - least expensive; heaviest material to
work with, though weights have come down in recent years;
flexible, shock-absorbant; "steel is real";
smaller tube diameters, Reynolds tubing, 631 and 853 series tube sets
are most current; will corrode, especially in salty
environments; long-lasting

aluminum - inexpensive; very lightweight; very stiff;
translates road shock more than other materials; recent tubing
called 6000 series (very good) and 7000 series (even better);
can be shaped into aerodynamic designs; tubes are larger to help
dissipate road shock; cannot corrode, but does fatigue over time

carbon fiber - more expensive; unique tube shaping achieved
by layering carbon sheets; generally a tad heavier than aluminum, but
lighter than steel; some manufacturers approach light aluminum weights,
but at great cost; very plush ride; can be stiff,
depending on bike design; long-lasting, though carbon fibers do
"loosen" after many thousand miles

titanium - most expensive; some manufacturers use commercial grade TI to bring costs down; feels like steel, plush like carbon, can be as stiff as aluminum; 3/2.5 means 94.5% ti, 3% alum., and 2.5% vanadium; 6/4 is the most expensive tubing; should last indefinitely, as TI does not corrode

In general, bikes costing $1,000 and less will be made of
aluminum. You can find a bike with a carbon fiber frame in
the sub-$1,500 range if you look hard enough, but there are
likely some tradeoffs involved. Titanium made frames - as
well as other exotic materials like Scandium and even
bamboo - sell as complete bikes for over $2,500 in almost
all cases. There is a "sweet spot" right between $1,200 and
$1,800 where, if you look around enough, you can usually
find a great bike - solid frame, very good components -
for a great price.

Litespeed Firenze - titanium road bike

Components

The next thing to know about selecting a road bike is components.
There are three main component manufacturers: Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM.

Shimano- made in Japan

Dura-Ace- best quality, big price tag

Ultegra- just a notch below D/A, excellent

105- still top shelf, 1/2 pound heavier than Ultegra

Tiagra- big drop-off in quality, start of affordable level

Sora 2- heavier, still fairly reliable- 8 or 9 speed

Sora 1- entry level- 7 speeds (hard to find)

Campagnolo- made in Italy

Record- best quality - carbon shifters - expensive

Chorus- very high quality

Centaur- medium level components (formerly Daytona)

Veloce- heavier, much less expensive, black or silver

Mirage- entry level - has compact option

Xenon- entry level - 10 speeds

SRAM - made in USA

Force- best quality, unique shifting

Rival- high quality, lower price point

Choosing the components (or "grouppo") is important because
you want shifters that feel right in your hands, that respond
when you click them; you want brake levers that you can
grip from multiple hand positions and that feel solid when
they are bringing you to a fast stop; you want derailleurs
that move the chain into gear smoothly without clunky shifting.
Also, components wear over time - higher end components will last
longer.

Shimano Dura Ace Group

Why are there such big price differences between component
groups? The higher-priced components are machined as finely
as possible to save weight; they use titanium screws and
bolts in some cases; they are machined more precisely than
lesser components. That is to say, what makes components
better quality is better materials going into them, more
time spent to machine them to exacting standards, and
weight savings.

Road bike forks are made of carbon fiber, aluminum, or steel.
But realistically, aluminum and steel forks have an effective
resale value of $0. Any road bike you look at today should
have a carbon fiber fork.

Finally, there are all the other bike parts to consider:
saddle, seatpost, stem, handlebars, wheels, tires, and
pedals. Most bike manufacturers buy bike kits in bulk in
order to save on their bike builds. So it's typical to get
a "family" of bike parts from Ritchey, Profile, or another
top parts maker on a new road bike. The quality of parts
certainly matters, but for the purpose of this buying guide,
we won't get into too much detail here. Suffice to say that
you will want a saddle that feels good, so you may want to
do a little research on the saddle listed to see what others
have said about it. Frequently, one swaps out the stem on
a new road bike in order to get the right bike fit, so keep
this in mind. Most new road bikes do not include pedals,
but if yours does, that's a bonus.

Armed with the information above, and disregarding name brand (although
it is certainly important), here is a rough
guideline for pricing road bikes (assuming very good
to excellent quality):

aluminum, steel- tiagra, sora- $400-$600

aluminum, steel- 105- $700-$1,100

aluminum, steel- Ultegra- $900-$1,800

aluminum, steel- Dura Ace- $1,500-$4,000

carbon, TI- 105- $800-$1,500

carbon, TI- Ultegra- $1,200-$3,000

carbon, TI- Dura Ace- $1,800-$5,000

aluminum, steel- Veloce, Mirage- $400-$800

aluminum, steel- Centaur, Chorus- $800-$1,800

aluminum, steel- Record- $1,500-$3,500

carbon, TI- Centaur, Chorus- $1,000-$2,500

carbon, TI- Record- $2,000-$5,000

As you can see, it is much easier to gauge
prices for aluminum and steel than it is
for carbon fiber and TI. Prices vary widely
for the more exotic materials.